


my girl, my world

by antarcticas



Series: atla winter femslash week 2021! [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ATLA Winter Femslash Week 2021, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Bars and Pubs, F/F, Multi, Pining, Reunions, Separation Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29214714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antarcticas/pseuds/antarcticas
Summary: Ty Lee goes to the Caldera for a few months to visit her sisters, and Azula is left pining in the time in-between.
Relationships: Azula & Katara (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: atla winter femslash week 2021! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2194215
Comments: 3
Kudos: 66
Collections: Winter ATLA Femslash Week 2021





	my girl, my world

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stolen_arts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stolen_arts/gifts).



> atla winter femslash day three-- a day late-- tyzula pining :)

“Come to dinner with us.”

“I—” Azula, uncharacteristically, stutters, staring at Katara and Zuko standing outside her apartment door. Zuko looks uncomfortable in the cold and Katara is smiling at her brightly. “I don’t want to go anywhere.”

“And I do,” Zuko mutters under his breath, and Katara tugs at his sleeve and grins again at Azula. 

“I know you’ve been a bit lonely for the past few days but—”

“I’m not lonely,” Azula sniffs the air and pulls back. “I’m fine, and don’t think—” she looks Katara up and down— “that just because you’ve raised yourself to my brother’s level I have to interact with you.”

Zuko twitches and stares at Katara, his brow tilted quizzically. “Did she just insult me?”

His girlfriend punches him lightly on the shoulder and smirks. “Of course she did. But please, Azula,” she begs one more time, “we’ll just go to the bar and grab a drink. That can’t be that bad, right? I do want to spend some time with you . . .”

Alcohol does sound nice. Azula feels like a mess, sad and depressed and just . . . she wishes Ty Lee was home, not visiting her siblings, and she wishes she wasn’t alone. She’ll probably need to attempt to bond with Katara at some time sometime in the future— the girl is an ally against Zuko, and she feels like she’ll be sticking around a while— so she scoffs into the dark night, says “Wait a second”, and slams the door in Katara and Zuko’s faces. 

She’s Azula so of course she’s wearing makeup and decent clothing already; she’d had it drilled into her from a very young age to always be ready in case she had to go present herself to her father’s court. Of course that court is in pieces by now and she’s just a twenty-four year old woman living with her girlfriend in a Ba Sing Se apartment, but some things stick. A quick run to the bathroom and swipe of red across her lips has her seeming pristine as usual, and she grabs her purse and steps outside, closing the door behind her with a resounding boom. Katara smiles when she sees her, and Zuko looks petrified. 

They stand there for a second until Azula coughs loudly and starts to the elevator, pointing at Zuko behind her shoulder as she goes. “You’re paying, brother. You don’t get to take me from my home and force me to go out with you and then not pay for my drinks.”

“I’m not—” Zuko starts, but Katara elbows him. “Fine, I’ll pay,” he groans, following her. Katara catches up to Azula.

“So you live with your girlfriend, right?”

“Yes,” Azula grits her teeth, getting into the elevator and punching in the button that leads to the bottom floor; she makes sure to touch the dirty plastic with her sleeve rather than her hand. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Of course not,” Katara seems disaffected. “She’s not at home right now, right?”

“You know she isn’t,” Azula groans, “that’s why you came to get me. Who put you up to it? Uncle Iroh?”

“Mai,” Zuko says lowly behind them. Azula snickers. 

“Mai? I can’t believe that.”

“Well, believe it,” Katara says, friendly. “She said she was worried about you because you skipped your weekly . . . knife-throwing sessions with her?” she seems uncertain and Azula revels in it. 

“Yes. I didn’t quite feel like impaling things today morning.”

“Odd,” says Zuko, backed up behind them in the elevator. He falls into step next to Katara as they walk past the block. The nearest bar, and Azula’s preferred one, is just a little ways away. “I’ve never seen you cancel on plans that involve methods of murder.”

“Zuzu,” Azula says lowly, “you’re making me look bad.”

“I’m sure, I’m sure,” he starts. Azula’s brother really does seem uncomfortable. “Fine. Let’s just . . . drinks. Get drinks. Talk about feelings.”

Katara looks at him lovingly and Azula wants to puke. “I don’t want to talk about feelings.”

“How long has your girlfriend been gone?” Katara asks as they walk across the street, stopping briefly in the middle when a car doesn’t check for pedestrians. 

Azula pouts for a moment but then thinks about how cold she feels at night and breathes out. “It’s been a month and a half. It’s not that long.”

“That sounds hard,” Katara nods sympathetically. They get into the line to enter the bar and start talking louder, over the bustle of the Ba Sing Se nightlife. “How long have you two been dating?”

“Forever,” Zuko yells. Azula tilts the bottom of her shoe and steps on his— lightly, though. 

“Seven years,” she admits. Seven years is a long time and she really shouldn’t be dependent on Ty Lee anymore— like she’d likely been in the beginning, toxic parts of their relationship— but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t  _ miss her.  _ It feels like a part of her has gone back to the Caldera, the emotional, fun loving part of her, the part which dresses up for one and cartwheels across the apartment because she can. 

Azula isn’t Azula without Ty Lee. Well, she is, but Ty Lee brings out the best of her— Ty Lee makes her remember there is a  _ best  _ part of the broken, abused, prodigal princess from the Caldera. 

She’s numb as she gets her ID checked and is ushered into the bar with Katara and Zuko, and she zones out— so unalike her— as they find a set of stools in the back. 

“What do you want to drink?” Zuko asks her, and she points to something on the menu and then sits down and stares blankly across the room. There’s the disco ball in the corner where she and Ty Lee had danced last year at Chan’s birthday— there’s the stage where Ty Lee always does karaoke late at night— there’s the booth in the corner where they’d both made out freshman year in college, sneaking in with their fake IDs . . . 

Suddenly, Azula starts sobbing. She’s wearing water-proof mascara, so the hard, stuck up, tense part of her thinks she’s fine, but all she’s really thinking about is Ty Lee, which is stupid because Ty Lee hasn’t even been gone that long, but she just wants to kiss her and hug her and sleep next to her stupidly cold body.

Zuko has gone somewhere and suddenly there’s an arm around her shoulders. It’s Katara, of course. “Hey,” the girl says, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Azula chokes out, turning into the bar’s back and trying to let the loud music in the area drown her out. “I just—”

“Thank the Spirits,” Katara sighs behind her. Azula frowns, because that doesn't fit the mood. 

“What?”

Then she turns around and one of her brows tilts; Mai is there, looking bored as usual, but with a lilt in her aura that—  _ damn, Azula really misses Ty Lee—  _ seems a little excited. “Mai?”

“Look who’s here?” Mai deadpans, and Azula glances behind her and sees—

It’s Ty Lee. 

Ty Lee, who looks bedraggled, her signature braid a little askew and circles under her eyes, but also beautiful, and like everything Azula has ever wanted. She’s glancing around the room and when she sees Azula she brightens up, and everything feels alright. 

Azula has not been having a great time lately. She has her brother and uncle in the city, and she loves them, but she’s never done well with isolation; it lets the demons fill her head. It’s a bit odd, how her world felt dark until this very minute, how Ty Lee’s presence feels like setting a match on fire. 

She’s paralyzed for a minute but of course Ty Lee isn’t, and then Katara is pulling her up and Ty Lee is bounding towards her, and then she has an armful of flower-scented girl and she feels like home. Ty Lee crushes Azula to herself first, but then Azula holds her so, so tight, only pulling away when she feels like her girlfriend wants her too. 

Then she stares back into grey eyes in the dim light of the pub, sees the disco ball in the background, and leans in to press her lips against Ty Lee, and everything feels right. 


End file.
